Court upholds 2-year jail sentence in molestation case

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to two years in prison for molesting a woman last June.

The defendant was first sentenced to four years in prison for molesting a 37-year-old woman while heading to her brother’s home next to her house during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan to eat suhour (the pre-dawn meal consumed ahead of the day-long fast) in mid-June and handed him the maximum sentence.

However, the Criminal Court decided to reduce the sentence to half, because the victim dropped charges against the defendant.

Court papers said the victim was walking late at night to her brother’s home for suhour when the defendant walked next to her and “grabbed her breast”.

“The victim screamed and called her brother, who rushed to help her and took the defendant to the police station,” the court verdict added.

The defendant contested the Criminal Court ruling, asking to be declared innocent and argued that the victim gave conflicting statements and that he “did not press on her private parts but was merely touching it”.

The defendant’s lawyer also stated in his argument that his client had no previous criminal record nor was tried for any previous molestation cases.

However, the Cassation Court ruled that the verdict was correct based on the witnesses’ testimonies, and the defendant deserved the verdict he received.

The Cassation Court comprised judges Yassin Abdullat, Mohammad Tarawneh, Daoud Tubeleh, Bassem Mubeidin and Hussein Sakran.